No Great Mischief

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1999

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Themes

The Breadth of Family Relationships

The most important theme throughout No Great Mischief is family. Whether it is the personal relationship between brothers or the more sprawling, complicated network of clann Chalum Ruaidh, almost every event in the book is portrayed through the lens of its effect on the family. In both the past and the present, Alex spends most of his time thinking about family and how to help his brothers, his sister, and his grandparents.

There are two different types of family members in the novel: those who are alive and those who are dead. For the latter, there is an obligation on the part of the living to remember them. Every dead person is kept alive through shared stories and anecdotes, whether it is Calum Ruadh or Alex’s mother or even the dog, who is shot by the replacement lighthouse keeper and thrown into the sea. The living remember the dead family members and frequently remind one another of their lives, preserving their memory for as long as possible. Physical manifestations of this memory—such as Calum Ruadh’s grave or the dedication Calum and his brothers drill into the rocks—are static; the real family history is an oral tradition, passed down between generations.

For the living, the family bonds become the fabric of the community. As Alex’s Grandma repeats again and again, blood is considered thicker than water. Whenever a character has to help a family member, it is mantras such as this that they return to, reminding themselves of the importance of family at all times. There are big, important gestures, such as Alex’s grandparents adopting him after the death of his parents. There are small, inconsequential gestures, such as a distant relative handing Alex money because they recognize his red hair. But all serve to strengthen the family bonds and emphasize the importance of family within clann Chalum Ruaidh.

Although there are very few times when the entire family is together, those instances serve to remind the reader just how sprawling and all-encompassing clann Chalum Ruaidh has become. At the funeral of Alexander MacDonald (whose name is shared by many other family members, including the narrator, Alex), a unit of police officers arrives to interrogate Calum regarding an incident with a policeman. When they arrive, they are faced down by a large crowd of family members. On this occasion, the strength of the family is enough to force the police to back away. Clann Chalum Ruaidh are shown to have an institutional strength, especially when they are bound together by grief. The police back down and drop their interest in Calum, based on the strength of the family connections. In this instance, in a moment of sadness, the family saves one of its members.

However, this same reliance on family eventually becomes the downfall of clann Chalum Ruaidh. At the mining camp, the family becomes a distinct ethnic group with Calum as its leader. The family members are portrayed in the same way as the French Canadians or the Italians; they are a united force, even if they have their differences between one another. Calum negotiates on their behalf, and as head of the family, the others trust him to get them the best deal. When Alex’s cousin, also called Alexander MacDonald, arrives in the camp, he is immediately accepted as part of the family. He shares many of their signifiers, such as red hair and a Celtic ring on his fingers, but he lacks many of their traits. Alexander MacDonald is not as bound by family loyalty and often fraternizes with groups outside of clann Chalum Ruaidh. He neither shares the family’s values nor their animosities, but Calum still trusts him.

When it is revealed that Alexander MacDonald has been stealing and has failed to represent the family in a fight, this affects Calum in two ways. First, this betrayal of trust has compelled Calum to become a murderer. Second—and most importantly—it has revealed a hollowness at the core of clann Chalum Ruaidh. The cousin’s betrayal is an institutional failing, a failing of the family, and it shatters the unity of the group. After this, Alex’s brothers scatter to the far corners of the world, and they never again unite in the same way. Family, the unifying theme that bounds all the characters together, eventually becomes the undoing of clann Chalum Ruaidh.

The Impact of Language

If family is one of the novel’s key theme, then the importance of language cannot be stressed enough. The common language shared by the characters manifests in a number of different ways and helps to bind together social bonds that might not be possible otherwise. The use of Gaelic and the deployment of idioms and mantras help to unite Alex’s family. Language, as a theme, bonds together disparate characters and gives them something in common, even at the most trying of times.

Perhaps the most explicit way in which the characters are bound together by language is the use of Gaelic in the novel. The occurs in the very first chapter, when Calum finally opens the door and greets Alex in a combination of English and Gaelic. The Gaelic phrase—ille bhig ruaidh—is a nickname Alex has, one which only he and his brother truly understand. It differentiates their relationship from the exchanges Alex has already had in the text, marking their relationship as more personal and deeper. It’s a linguistic representation of the deep bond Alex shares with his brother.

In the second chapter, the differentiation between Gaelic speakers and non-speakers is more pejorative. Alex fails to respond to his own name in class, expecting to hear his Gaelic nickname. The children who speak Gaelic find this funny, while the teacher “became very flushed, probably because of the Gaelic phrase she did not understand” (23). There is a clear delineation between those who understand the joke and those who don’t, which emphasizes the strength of the social bonds that can form between those who share a language.

Another important feature of the Gaelic language is the songs sung by Alex’s family. Early in the novel, it is noted that the same songs are sung by Alex’s grandparents in their kitchen and the Scottish warriors who fought hundreds of years ago. Although the words may come slowly to Alex, his ability to recall Gaelic songs locates him within the context of this family history. It helps to create his identity and preserve it, even if he does not speak Gaelic for years at a time.

In that respect, Gaelic is portrayed as something innate in Alex’s character. It is a part of him, as much as his red hair or fair skin, and will never leave him. When he departs from Calum’s apartment and hears his brother begin to sing in Gaelic, he mouths along with the words. The language “rises up to the extent that [his] own lips move in an almost reflex action” (21), and he completes the song as he departs. The language is almost like muscle memory, triggered by his family connection. It is a part of Alex that will never disappear, no matter how far he travels or what he does in life. This is also reflected in Catherine’s trips back to Scotland and her interactions with distant relatives.

As well as Gaelic, another way in which the theme of language appears in the book is through the constant use of idioms and mantras. Alex’s Grandma, in particular, makes constant use of repeated phrases to teach lessons and remind her grandchildren (and her husband) of the importance of family. Phrases like “Cared too much. Tried too hard” and “all of us are better when we’re loved” are repeated throughout the book. Not only are they impossible for Alex (and Catherine) to forget, but they emphasize the shared knowledge of the family. The family is a stronger unit for possessing this information, and it is passed down across the generations like an heirloom. Even when Alex’s Grandma’s mind begins to deteriorate and she loses some of her mental faculties, she still repeats these familiar phrases. They are comforting to her and to Alex, helping to strengthen and maintain their relationship even at its most difficult moments.

History and Its Stories

One of the most repeated themes throughout the novel is history and the stories that result. Alex’s own history obsesses him, turning a routine trip to visit his brother into an introspective examination of his entire life. He wanders the streets of Toronto, examining every tiny detail of his family’s own history and trying to imagine where it fits into the context of a wider Canadian and Scottish history. When he thinks of the fruit pickers, the Masai, or other peoples, he positions their struggles in relation to his own and to those of his family. The difficulty of understanding one’s place in history occupies the thoughts of many characters, who seem either out of place in their own eras or unable to move beyond a past period.

In the opening chapter, Alex admits, “I am a twentieth-century man, I think” (21), a phrase which is composed of a statement and then a modifying remark. Alex believes himself to be at home in the modern world, yet he is racked with doubts. This introduction to his character juxtaposes with Calum, who—as is revealed throughout the book—has turned from a confident, assured young man to a drunk with his best days behind him. Time has passed Calum by, though Alex seems adept at moving through the modern world. History has affected one but not the other; Alex has adapted to the modern era, while Calum has not.

Although every character displays some understanding of history, their approach to the subject differs wildly. There are those, like Calum, who know only fragments of the family history they experienced firsthand. There are those, like Alex’s Grandpa, who tell mollified and relatable pseudo versions of history. There are those, like Alex’s Grandma, who employ historical anecdotes to inform the present. There are those, like Catherine, who actively travel to historical sites in the search of the truth. And there are those, like Alex’s grandfather, who study the intricate details of history found in books and then, when they repeat these details, are unable to convince anyone of their veracity. Alex is a mixture of all the above, interrogating his personal history, conducting large amounts of research, and using his own past to inform his present.

As the narrator, Alex is in control of clann Chalum Ruaidh's historical presentation. The action of speaking directly to the reader in the first-person gifts to the narrative a sense of confessional history: Alex is telling the reader everything he knows because he feels it is important that the history is recorded and detailed. He has become the family historian, relating the lives of his family members so that other people may learn from them in the future, just as he has done.

In the text, there is a difference between scholarly history and shared history. The shared history is the most typical form of history that appears in the book: anecdotes, single lines, historical episodes, memories, and collective recollections are all shared between the characters, who seek to extrapolate meaning from these past events. There is a collective nostalgia for the past, whether it is people like Calum in the present day, who want to go back to a time in their lives when they were in a better position, or whether it is people like Alex, who have lost loved ones and wish to recapture some memory of what was lost.

Alternatively, scholarly history is very rare. The history that appears in the book is not to be considered a true version of events. Rather, it is the characters’ interpretations of the true version of events. Alex’s grandfather, one of the few characters who deliberately studies the past, often tries to correct his family members’ version of events or offers to them alternative perspectives on commonly-held versions of events. But these attempts are often ignored or willfully cast aside. Alex’s Grandpa, for example, seems uncomfortable with portraying his ancestors as anything other than conquering heroes. When the grandfather adds an element of tragedy or pathos to the story, it derives from his scholarly investigation into the true version of history. But it is not as useful for Grandpa, who simply opens a beer and re-states his commitment to his accepted version of history.

Because certain characters wish to reduce history to phrases, jokes, and anecdotes, the true depth of history is often lost on them. As such, the scholarly history is kept alive by Alex, Catherine, and their grandfather.

History in the novel is emblematic of the pursuit of truth. While some characters are happy to employ history for their own social needs, others feel compelled to examine every detail of the past to inform their present. This is the essential structure of the book, with Alex scrutinizing his past in order to better understand his present. What he learns along the way, from both scholarly and shared history, is the importance of family and the experiences that they share.